Rick's Pick For Best Buy Week of January 29th

Durango Best Buy

A feature that I want to make a weekly occurrence in this Durango Colorado BLOG, is to share with you a property in our market area that I feel is an especially good-buy. It might be a house. It might be a piece of land. Maybe a condo. In any event, it will be a property that "I would recommend to my own son to buy."......a standard I often use and share with clients. Just so you know how I operate, the properties that I select will be from the entire MLS; not just my company's listings.

This week I am recommending a 4 bedroom in one of Bayfield's newest subdivisions located just a block from the elementary school. This is a brand new single level home with a 2 car garage. It is priced at $284,900. I showed this home a week ago and was impressed with the natural hardwood floors, the general quality of construction and the layout. The master bath is a bit small, but that was about the only drawback. The listing broker shows the house as having a little over 1,700 square feet. This would be an excellent owner occupied home or even a good rental. I do not make this type of recommendation lightly....I bought a new home in Bayfield last summer and use it as a rental.

To view this property go to my http://www.DurangoColoradoHomes.net website and enter MLS# 55760.

If you would like to see this home, please give me or one of my Team members a call. Toll free 1-800-955-0259 ext 145. E-mail Rick@BuyDurango.com

FICO SCORES

Do You know your FICO score?

FICO scores are used by lenders to pre-determine the type of credit risk you are expected to be. The score is a numeric value of all the information in your credit report. FICO is an acronym for Fair Isaac Co. which was the company that founded the system. Scores range from 300 to a high of 850. If your score is over 720 you will generally qualify for the best rates and terms. We call that “A” grade paper. Scores below 620 are generally considered “B” paper and that person would have to pay a higher interest rate and likely would need a larger downpayment. Certain loan programs would not even be available for low scoring people.

The score is based on numerous events that are considered an accurate reflection on and predictor of your creditworthiness. The exact criteria used and the “points” assigned for each item is a closely guarded secret. However we do know of several things that are considered in the scoring process: Payment historylate payments, collections, bankruptcies, number of credit cards, the amount of credit used up on the card versus the credit limit, number of times you have applied for credit or checked your score, length of time at current residence, total credit outstanding and other facts. Contrary to common opinion, it is not based on income.

It is not uncommon to find errors in your credit report. In order to fix those errors and the subsequent FICO score that will be generated, I recommend that you meet with your lender early in the home buying process so a credit report can be pulled and any errors corrected. It is not at all unusual to see it take a month or 2 to get errors fixed. There are 3 generally used credit reporting agencies. They are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Your lender usually takes the middle FICO score of the 3.

If you would like more information on FICO scores and how they affect your ability to buy please gice me a call or drop me an e-mail.

Rick Lorenz CRS, ABR Broker with Team Lorenz @ The Wells Group 1-800-955-0259 or my direct line at 970-375-7007. e-mail Rick@BuyDurango.com

The Durango Real Estate Market

DURANGO MARKET TRENDS FROM 2005

January is always a great time to look back on the past year's activity. Even though I am examining the sales stats and trends every month, I feel a 12 month period gives me plenty of statistical basis for true trend evaluation. Let me start with condo and townhome sales. For the second year in a row, there were more condos sold in Durango than in-town homes. Where condos used to be college rentals, they have now become acceptable and affordable starter homes. Just consider these facts: our average sales price of an in town home was $394,000 while the average condo sold at just under $279,000. It is easy to see how affordability has a major impact. For the person wanting to buy smart, the price range reflective of that $115,000 spread is a great place to buy.

Unlike last year, this winter has seen almost no snow. If you are wanting to be in the ski condo market up at Purgatory, I would say anytime after the first of March would be a great time to buy as owners will likely have lived through a very poor rental market this winter at DMR.

Overall, our market has continued its steady upward trend. Let me share a few stats with you regarding the increase in median price from 2005 compared to 2004. In town Durango homes up 18.08%. In town Bayfield homes up 38.37%. Country homes around Durango are up 13.85%. Vacant land 35 acres or more are up 61.4%.

I have been collecting real estate sales stats for years and they can be found on my website www.buydurango.com. I have placed a link about 3/4's of the way down on the home page that will give you trends for the last 27 years.

What is my conclusion? I'd say if a person has not yet bought into our market, now is time to do it because values are rising at a faster rate than you can save money to add to your down payment. In addtion, interest rates are at historically low levels. As rates rise, a person's buying power decreases. The time to invest is now.

DURANGO REALTOR RETURNS FROM SAN ANTONIO CONFERENCE

Rick Lorenz, broker with Team Lorenz at The Wells Group, recently returned from a 3 day conference held in San Antonio. The Allen Hainge CyberStars' annual master mind conference was held the second week of January. The group is a by-invitation-only assemblage of top producing real estate brokers who are also tech savy. There are just under 200 members in the world and Lorenz is the exclusive member for the Durango area. Lorenz is a member of the advisory board that guides the group. Attendance totaled over 150 people.

"Membership in the CyberStar group has given me so many opportunities to network with and learn from top brokers from around the world. Great ideas are not exclusive to Durango, so I love to learn from and share with other top notch brokers."